


Some women fear the fire (others simply become it)

by KiriJones



Series: watch me put my war paint on [5]
Category: Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Claire goes from being a badass to a BAMF, Gen, Owen is kind of a douche (he has his reasons), and learns to survive, but comes back eventually, but mostly AU, he is mostly absent due to said reasons, mostly Claire gets a life and friends etc, not very good ones but he loves Claire so kind of forgiven?, some elements of canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 18:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15669024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiriJones/pseuds/KiriJones
Summary: Sticking together for survival lasts a lot shorter than Claire thought it would (all of 72 hours). Now left to her own devices Claire is faced with fight or flight. And against all her greater instincts Claire chooses to fight. In doing so she will find a strength she never knew she had and stumble into a life she never imagined.Or Claire learns to grow as a person, discovers she has a biological clock after all, acquires a dog (or two), finds friends in the most unlikely of people, face her fears, takes in a very stubborn, blunt pubescent boy (remind you of anyone?), fights for survival, lives without the unexpected love of her life, ends up back on the bloody island, knocks some sense into said love of her life, breaks the bones of some villains,  and lives happily ever after (not necessarily in that order).





	Some women fear the fire (others simply become it)

Claire leaves the island determined for things to change. When Owen says they will stick together for survival she means it. With every bone in her body. With every breathe she is sure she loves him. It has always been there simmering under all of the sarcasm and glares. For almost four long years she had fought it tooth and nail. And now she surrenders. For once in her life she accepts something and gives up control.

They find a hotel room and Claire tumbles down with Owen. She lets down all of her walls. They have sex or make love or whatever she wants to call it. And she does not regret it. Owen is all she cares about at the moment aside from Karen and e boys. Claire is like clam opening up to reveal the pearl within. And that is her first mistake. 

She would have to have been a fool to notice Owen is not doing the same as herself. While she is opening up he is becoming more guarded. She thinks it must be his coping mechanism. That is what she tells herself anyways. 

The second night the sex is different. Frenzied and possessive and gentle and fulfilling in a way she has never experienced before. Looking back she can see it for what it is. A goodbye. She wakes up the next morning to cold blankets and news that Owen Grady is gone. Months later she will hear on the news he is back with the SEALS. But in that moment she breaks.

Gone is the man she loves and gone was her shield to holding back reality. With Owen gone Claire is forced to face it all. The pain and the news and media and all the coming lawsuits. But she doesn't care. She calls Karen and soon her sister and nephews move her into their suite. They become her lifeline.

Claire spends two days in that hotel bed watching movies with the boys and being held by Karen. And in the dark of one night she gets up and goes to look in the mirror in the bathroom. The women staring back at her is pale and looks sickly and horrid. Her eyes are bloodshot and hair a mess. 

Pin that moment Claire knows she has a choice. Masrani Global has insisted on a press conference tomorrow. They are in defense mode. Claire knows she will be a pawn. She could could back to being a figure of ice. But she knows if she does she will lose herself a little more each day. 

Claire Dearing is thirty-one years old. She wants to live. She wants to be a person her father (a wide rower still stubbornly in love with his wife who has been dead for two decades. Claire doesn't know ho much she will be similar to him in that regard yet) and sister and nephews can be proud of. And she can't do that by continuing to be who she was. 

So Claire goes to lay down and sleeps. In the morning she dons her war paint and goes to the press conference. She quits in front of the world media after Masrani plans to blame everything on Simon and Owen and herself. She refuses to not accept her part in it but she will not speak ill of a man who gave her a chance when no one else would and the man whom she hates on principle but still yearns for secretly. 

She leaves the next day and goes to Madison with her family. Maserati threatens to sue and she arms herself with a lawyer whom she knew from her Harvard days. Gabby Diaz has shark smile and a thirst for blood. Masrani and shelf reach a settlement when she threatens to go public with all she knows and suspects. She can easily prove all of her claims (only an ameteur never keeps backups) and suddenly she is free. Or as free as she can be when half the world hates her and the other part reveres her in equal measure. 

She retreats to her fathers home where she looks at albums of her mother who died from cancer. Jacob Dearing is a silent sentinel who protects and supports her in equal measure. Claire spends time with the boys. She learns about their likes and dislikes. She learns to love them as more than parts of her sister.

and on Wednesday afternoon a mere three months after the island nightmare is watching the boys have a snowball fight and it hits her. She wants this. She wants to love something more than life itself. She wants to leave behind a legacy of something more than what she has. Claire Dearing wants to be a mother. It leaves her shocked and scared and excited. 

She makes decision to stand on her own two feet the next day. Ten days later she arrives in San Diego determined to make something of herself. A up and coming business hires her. Claire buys a house three and half months after the island. 

Two days after that she begins the process of becoming a foster parent. 

Seven months after the island Claire has a job that thrills her, a dog that she is sure may eat her one day and a family that she talks to every day without fail. 

Eleven  months after the island Claire gets a call from family services. They have a child that needs a place to stay immediately if Claire is ready, willing, and able. 

She says yes. And just like that everything in her life changes once more. 


End file.
